11 - KeyBank Vermont City Marathon, Burlington, VT

Dave Edwards, Nichol Hare and I drove to Vermont together.  Dave ran the marathon and Nichol cheered for us. We visited the Vermont Teddy Bear Company while there...

Nichol 

10 - Long Branch, NJ

For the New Jersey Marathon, I volunteered as a four-hour pacer. The race entry fee was free and I thought it would be a good experience.

Romina and me

Saturday, May 3, 2008: 
Drove down to Long Branch.  Arrived at 2:30.  Checked into hotel – Holiday Inn Express on 36 East in West Long Branch.  Great room – actually it’s a suite.  Went to the expo at the start / finish of the marathon.  Helped out at the pacer table for a few hours.  Met the other 4 hour pacer – Romina from Miami.  This is her 19^th marathon.  She was with her friend Jose also from Miami.  We went to the dinner together at about 6PM.  I drove them to their hotel.  Back at the hotel – took bath and am now sitting in bed typing.  I should go to bed it’s 9:10 PM.  Set the alarm for 5 AM. 

My plantar fasciitis is OK.  This is the first time ever that I’m going to run a marathon with an injury, if you can call it that.  I have been going back and forth.  If a runner came to me, as a coach, and said they had plantar fasciitis, I would say don’t run.  Why can I talk the talk but not walk the talk?  The doctor I saw on Monday said it was OK.  Romina says she has it and just runs with it.  I’ll start and see how I feel.  But I seem to feel OK when I’m running.  It’s the next day???  What should I do???  Run / not run???  I really want to be a pacer. 

Weather looks iffy - chance of thunderstorms.  Would they cancel if there were thunderstorms??? 

Sunday, May 4, 2008:
Woke to cloudy skies, but no thunder.  Started out with a big group of runners but by the end, there were only one or two runners with me.  I was able to maintain a four-hour pace for most of the marathon (see mile splits below).  My plantar fasciitis was bearable.

Mile Splits:

1- 9:35; 2- 9:00; 3- 8:54; 4- 8:46; 5- 9:08; 6- 9:03; 7- 9:06; 8- 9:20; 9- 9:02; 10- 9:10; 11- 9:01; 12- 9:04; 13- 9:22; 14- 9:06; 15- 8:52; 16- 9:00; 17- 8:55; 18- 9:00; 19- 8:54; 20- 9:07; 21- 8:51; 22- 9:12; 23- 8:42; 24- 9:14; 25-9:19; 26- 10:33; .2- 1:49 

Email from a runner that I received after the marathon:

PR = Personal Record
BQ = Boston Qualify

9 - Yuengling Shamrock Marathon, Virginia Beach, Virginia (March 16, 2008)

Yuengling Shamrock Marathon Virginia Beach, Virginia

Almost finished...

Finished!

Mark and I left NYC on Friday, March 14 and drove to Wilmington, DE for the night.  Saturday we drove down to Virginia Beach for the marathon and stayed two nights. On our way home, we visited Yorktown, Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Mount Vernon. 

8 - United Technologies Greater Hartford Marathon, Hartford, Connecticut

I ran the Hartford Marathon with Dave Edwards, who I coached when I worked for Team for Kids.

Kent Bradley, Mark's brother-in-law(married to Mark's youngest sister, Mary), also ran this marathon, but we didn't run together.  Kent ran this Marathon in an attempt to qualify for The Boston Marathon. In order to accomplish his goal, he needed to run really fast— faster than I wanted to run for this race.

Kent needed to finish this marathon with a time at or under 3:30:00 to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He did it, with a finishing time of 3:29:59!

7 - Boston Marathon, Boston, Massachusetts (April 16, 2007)

To marathon runners, the Boston Marathon is the Kentucky Derby, Superbowl, World Series, World Cup, Tour de France, etc of running. Why? Because not everyone gets to run it—you have to qualify.

After running for as long as I had been and initially qualifying in South Carolina in February 2006 and then again in Maryland in October 2006, I was very excited to FINALLY be running THE BOSTON MARATHON!

Saturday, April 14, 2007:

• Mark and I took the train from NYC to Boston - taxi to our hotel, Millennium Bostonian.
• Met with Karen from Alphabet Fitness about using her program in my Wellness classes at The School.
• Had dinner at McCormick & Schmick's at Faneuil Hall.
• Wasn't feeling too well all day.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

• Relaxed at the hotel in the morning.
• Then went to marathon expo at the convention center to pick up my marathon number.
• Met Mark's brother-in-law Kent (married to Mark's youngest sister, Mary), Kent's bothers (David [CA] & Stephen [Boston]), and their families for lunch at the food court in the convention center. David was also running the marathon.
• Had dinner at Villa-Francesca with Dave Darcy and his friend Megan, who was running the marathon.
• Still didn't feel so good all day.

Monday, April 16, 2007

• Woke up with a sore throat, and when I looked outside, a nor'easter storm was in progress.  Not an ideal day to run a marathon, even if it was the Boston Marathon.
• Mark told me he would completely understand if I wanted to do Boston another year. But I told him—no way, what was he thinking?!?
• Walked over to Boston Commons to get the bus to the starting line in Hopkinton.  Heavy rain and wind continued.
• Starting area was a mud bath.  Fortunately, I found a cup of hot coffee and a small raft that someone had left behind (this raft allowed me to sit down on the muddy ground under the cover of the tent).
• Luckily, the rain stopped in time for the start of the race.
• At mile 5, however, the rain started again.
• As we approached Welsey College, I could hear the screaming and cheering a mile before I got there.
• Despite the rain, I took pictures up until mile 23 when I was ready to be done; then I picked-up the pace.
• I developed a cramp at mile 24 (still 2.2 mile to go)...I slowed down again for a mile and the cramp disappeared.
• Tina, from The School, had champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries sent to our hotel room; they were there when I got back to the room.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

• Mark and I took the train back to NYC.

6 - The Under Armour Baltimore Marathon - Baltimore, Maryland

After qualifying for Boston with a sub 3:45 time in South Carolina in February of 2006, I decided to try to run a 3:30 time in Maryland.

I did it!

5 - Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon, South Carolina

Qualified for The Boston Marathon for the first time in South Carolina!  
*

Based on my sex and age, my qualifying time for Boston at the time was 3:45:00.

I finished in 3:43:35, just fast enough to qualify! 






* This marathon was in February, 2006.